About

Moonblogsfromsyb is the feed/blogroll of The Moon from Syb – “Howlin’ from the Otherside Joined up Social Media for Nobody… Follow via E-mail, RSS, Google+, Twitter, or if you must Facebook….”

The categories of moonblogsfromsyb are currently made up of:

A BIT OF CULTURE

Richard Godwin in the Evening Standard: Rather like Anthony Hilton on economics (see below), he manages to cut through the crap of the issues of the day very succinctly. He often has a spot on political slant, but also contributes music and film reviews and interviews for the ES magazine. Originally just his articles appeared on Moonblogsfromsyb via a Google search feed but on the funkay new Drupal powered Evening Standard site he, like all “authors” now his very own Feed and I have burnt it to Feedburner so you can sign up for email alerts.

Laura Craik in the Evening Standard: She used to have Mr Godwin’s gig at The Standard, and he has been able to maintain her high standards. She did go off to write for the Daily Mail – which must have been a bit of an odd fit. Thankfully, she is now back at the Standard writing the “Trendwatch” section for the ES magazine. She has a brilliantly wry view of the fashion world: “Just when you thought it simply wasn’t possible for fashion to disappear further up its own arse, it has become even more exclusive” and manages, like Mr Godwin, to get a bit political.

In the funkay new Drupal Standard, she has her very own Feed, but as above you can sign up for email alerts via a Feed43 Feed fed through Feedburner

LETS’S GET POLITICAL

Mark Steel in the Independent: Brilliant commentary on the absurd goings on in the political world in the UK which you don’t need to be some raving lefty to appreciate and find despairingly amusing. The feed http://feeds.feedburner.com/MarkSteelFeed43 now also had it’s very own blog from which you can also follow the feed by email, Facebook, Google+ and Twitter

Owen Jones in The Guardian He looks about 12 as you may have noticed with his frequent visits to TV studios, but he is very much old skool labour that is not quite the same as the mystical “Old Labour” which preceded Tony Blair. He was until recently with the Independent but has moved to the Guardian, and so he has a proper Feed

SOCIAL MEDIA/TECH

John Naughton in the Observer: The professor of the public understanding of technology at the Open University. He is the author of From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg: What You Really Need to Know About the Internet. And he tends not to mince his words. Below is a couple of good examples:

“the awful moment when the public sector has to upgrade its computers is approaching inexorably. Think of it as technology’s equivalent to the Scottish referendum.”

“Facebook, on the other hand, makes nothing. It just provides an online service that, for the moment, people seem to value. But in order to make money out of those users and satisfy the denizens of Wall Street, it has to become ever more intrusive and manipulative. It’s condemned, in other words, to intrusive overstretch. Which is why, in the end, it will become a footnote in the history of the internet. Just like Microsoft, in fact. Sic transit gloria”

The Observer is part of the Guardian online, and so a Feed is not a problem.

THE ECONOMY STUPID

Anthony Hilton in the Standard: The 2014 Business Journalist of the Year at the Financial Media Awards and so now considered “news”. His articles have featured a few times in the Moon and below are a few highlights:

“In its four years, the Government has already borrowed more than Labour did in 13 years”

“Help to Buy is the major source of assistance for people seeking to buy social housing in the regions. It is making home ownership affordable to a whole slice of society which simply would not have a chance otherwise because they could never have accumulated enough deposit, but almost all of this is well outside London.”

“Until Big Bang, the problems came from dishonest people working in honest firms; today the problems are caused by honest people working in dishonest firms. The culture is rotten.”

Pre-2008 he was was warning of the unsustainable debt levels and what was happening in the City but more recently was not convinced that we had a double dip recession and the stats are finally catching up with him. He is also however not convinced that the current recovery is sustainable but it is better than nothing and though he has been scathing of dear Curious George many times his can also give credit where credit is due.

Again originally his articles were added to Moonblogs via a Google search Feed but now he does have his very own Feed, so the formally unfollowable Mr Hilton can now followed in any way possible thanks to the wonders of the like of IFTTT.

Mr Hiltons content is now added to Moonblogsfromsyb via Pocket (see below) to filter out the more technical financial stuff. So now it will only feature his more politically inclined content.

Hamish McRae in the Independent: Like Mr Hilton he did warn of the un-sustainability of pre-2008 and was also not convinced that we had a double dip but is also not convinced that the current recovery is very sustainable, but again thinks it is better than nothing. He is not as strident as Mr Hilton and tend to hedge his bets a bit- rather like Ms Flanders did with her BBC blog but, again as she did, he does some great analysis of the UK and worldwide economic issues.

Like the Evening Standard and because they have the same bearded owner, the Independent has now gone all Drupal funkey on us as well, and so each author has their very own Feed which I have burnt to Feedburner for Email Alerts

Ben Chu in the Independent: Mr Chu has often stepped in to cover the Mr McRae column in the past and done a great job and now his own articles are often given a big billing in the printed copy, and his writing is becoming increasing more strident – Hiltonesque even, here is a recent headline:

“Osborne’s deficit reduction plan is more like a productivity reduction plan”

As with Mr McRae he now has his very own Feed burnt to Feedburner for Email Alerts

FEEDLY AND POCKET TAGS

I may also add the odd article to the categories above from the likes of Paul Mason or Independent Voices from the likes of Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Matthew Norman or Emily Ashton from Buzzfeed, Maria Hyde from The Guardian or a tweet from Billy Bragg, Bonnie Greer or Brian Moore via Feedly and IFTTT simply by adding an article to a board. It can be done on just about any device, and it is pretty amazing that with these two brilliant free services* you can easily share an article to multiple blogs/social media. The board tags will add articles to the relevant categories in moonblogsfromsyb that will then send the article on to Facebook and Twitter and even the Google+ page via Hootsuite.

*I have since found out that I can link up IFTTT and Feedly for free only because I was an early adopter, and so non-early adopters need to be signed up for a premium Feedly account. However, you can also use Pocket with IFTTT to do the same thing with any web page whether on Feedly or not, plus they have app for IOS and Android and, as ever, a great 3rd party option for Windows 10 called Poki and now an Edge Extension for Pocket. Plus it integrates with many other apps – such as the excellent 3rd party app for Feedly on Windows 10 – Nextgen Reader.

You can link up to the excellent Digg Reader and send articles you Digg to any other channel; the only restriction is that there is not the option to have tags as triggers. Digg also has some great Twitter integration that is superior to the free Feedly offer, but it does refresh feeds only every 4 hours rather than 2 for Feedly.

WordPress does make it easy to follow categories (see above) or get the full feed or sign up for instant e-mails or of course just follow the original blogs/feeds